Incredible Dr. Pol sets Nat Geo Wild record

Sitting in the waiting room at veterinarian Jan Pol’s office, John Hackman used his phone to take a picture of a camera man’s compact, portable sound system.

Hackman, of Union Township, wanted to show the system to a friend at church who is interested in sound work, which Hackman does at Maranatha Baptist in Mt. Pleasant.

Never having seen the Nat Geo Wild network’s “The Incredible Dr. Pol,” Hackman was at the Nottawa Township clinic to get his standard poodle, Millie, checked out.

Millie was sick the previous week, with low blood sugar.

In Hackman’s neighborhood, there is no cable television, and he doesn’t see the point of getting a satellite dish to view one television program.

Even if he had cable, Charter does not carry the network.

Despite being available locally only on DirecTV and the Dish Network, “The Incredible Dr. Pol” has pulled in some incredible ratings.

Saturday’s episode, the season finale, was the most-watched telecast in the history of the network.

Rajul Mistry, spokesperson for National Geographic networks, said an average of 847,000 viewers over the age of 2 and 304,000 in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic watched Saturday’s show.

That is an increase of 9 percent and 13 percent from the previous record, the Sept. 14 episode of The Incredible Dr. Pol.

While that astonishes the longtime Isabella County veterinarian, it doesn’t surprise his son, Charles, who is responsible for the show being televised.

Charles, who works in the film industry, brought a crew to the clinic in 2011 and taped a demo, and Nat Geo Wild picked up the show.

These days, Pol, whose wife, Diane, runs the office, is amazed at what happens on a day-to-day basis at the clinic.

On Monday, four groups of people stopped by the clinic, located on West Jordan Road, to see Pol in action, including people from Arkansas, Australia and Kalamazoo.

More fans arrived at the clinic Tuesday morning.

Dana McDowell and Jeska Melson, of Holly and Waterford respectively, were in Isabella County getting hay for McDowell’s horses.

McDowell wanted to see the clinic and meet Pol.

She got that and more: a hug, an autograph on a photograph she brought of her horse, and a chance to sign the Pol’s guest book.

McDowell said she loves the show and has learned a lot from watching.

With fans worldwide, Pol never dreamed the show would take off the way it has.

“It almost scares me,” he joked. “I am just a veterinarian who has done my job for 43 years.

“I’m flabbergasted by the whole thing, to be honest.”

Pol loves the fact that the show has inspired youth to aspire to be farm veterinarians, which are not as common as they once were.

Charles thinks people like the show because it features a good role model, it is totally unscripted and shows the day to day lives of a positive family.

“It’s a water cooler show,” Charles said. “There are great family moments.

“I have to attribute that to our crew.”

Charles said the show’s crew is dedicated, with few leaving to pursue other work, and are like family.

One of Charles’ hopes is that more people can tune in to the show.

Although he is pleased with the amount of viewers, he said more people could see the show if more cable carriers picked up the network.

Cable subscribers who want to watch The Incredible Dr. Pol should ask their providers to carry the show, Charles said, adding that the first and second seasons are available on DVD and are downloadable at Amazon and iTunes.